the government, are recognized in Indonesia as long as they meet the
national standards of education (Republic of Indonesia, 2012).^13
While work needs to be done to increase the participation rate, the key issue
in Indonesia’s education today is the quality of education, as measured in
terms of Indonesian students’ academic achievement. Over the past decade,
the government has set a number of strategies and policies with the aim
of improving the quality of education, including the National Standards of
Education, established in 2005,^14 which aims to ensure that all education
institutions are able to meet the educational needs of students. These
standards are used as the basis for assessing the adequacy of schools all over
the country. The National Standards of Education have been implemented
through various policies, including teacher certification and training, the
regulation of national examinations, review of the national curriculum, and
the establishment of public schools with international standards.^15
13 According to the Minister of Education’s Regulation No. 76 Year 2012, all schools (public
and private) are entitled to receive a subsidy from the government. The amount that
they receive depends on the number of students that they have. The programme,
called BOS (Bantuan Operasional Sekolah/Subsidy for School Opetration) began in
2005 and since then Indonesian children have free access to a complete secondary
education.
14 The regulation, known as Peraturan Pemerintah (Government Regulation) No. 19 year
2005, introduces eight standards for Indonesian education: Standar kompetensi lulusan
(graduate competency standard), Standar isi (contents standard), Standar proses (process
of teaching and learning standard), Standar pendidik dan tenaga kependidikan (teacher
and support staff standard), Standar sarana dan prasarana (facilities standard), Standar
pengelolaan (management standard), Standar pembiayaan (budgeting standard) and
Standar penilaian (assessment and evaluation standard) (Republic of Indonesia, 2005).
15 The regulations are as follows: The Minister of Education’s Regulation No. 24, 2006, on
the Implementation of the National Standard on Educational Content, The Minister
of Education’s regulation No. 20, 2005, on the National Examinations, The Minister of
Education’s regulation No. 78, 2009, on Implementation of School with International
Standards for Primary and Secondary (Rintisan Sekolah Berstandar Internasional, RSBI),
and the Minister of Education’s Regulation No. 18, 2007, on Certification for In-Service
Teachers. The most controversial was the RSBI .The government has transformed a
number of public schools into international standard schools, which offer special
classes for selected students. This has led to issues, however, including discrimination
against students of low-income families and the excessive use of English as the
medium of instruction, instead of Bahasa Indonesia. Following discussion and debate,
the Constitutional Court officially terminated the operation of these public schools with
international standards on 8 January 2013 (Republic of Indonesia, 2013).